And She Just Smiled
by Niltiac Tsegrah
Summary: The rise, the fall, the redemption.
1. The Common Tale

When 101 set out from her Vault, she had been the epitome of goodness, a paragon of righteousness, a white knight swearing to protect the wasteland and denizens. Okay, so, she'd fucked with Moriarty's whore, Nova, as something different to do; she'd been alone, scared, and she was dead sick of being treated like a child. Nova didn't treat her like one, which was a relief.

Then her father died.

She ran off one night; nobody at the Citadel knew where she had gone. No one saw her leave.

When she came back, 101 was... different. She was high on something, that was for damn sure, and even after she went and saw Doc Church she still had a funny gleam to her eyes. She scared people; the Sheriff even warned her that if she decided to do anything funny, he'd fix her right and good.

And she just smiled at him. Told him that she was feeling great, that she wasn't planning anything.

She left Megaton, didn't come back for awhile. A few mercenaries came through and told wild tales of how 101 ripped a Death Claw apart with her bare hands, how she bought kids and freed them from Paradise Falls.

How she enslaved every single scumbag that she came across.

That was the part that made people realize that maybe, just maybe, she'd gone a little funny in the brain. Enslaving the refuse of the Wasteland? Was that a joke? And to make matters stranger, she'd been caught stealing from houses, supply stores, and the back of Moriarty's shop.

It wasn't long before the Sheriff told her that she better leave Megaton before something happened.

And she just smiled at him. Told him that she was feeling great, that she wasn't planning anything.

She returned everything she had stolen - with the exception of Simm's Vault-Tech Bobblehead.

That Mister Burke character bothered a lot of people at the Saloon. He was real smooth - too smooth, too clean-looking for Megaton citizenry. Moriarty though, Moriarty loved him because he would buy rounds and rounds of drinks for hours at a time. Of course, he'd make Gob deliver all the drinks to the patrons, poor Gob.

A few months ago, after her run with Nova, 101 was seen conversing tersely with the man. In the end, she'd poured his drink over his head and left the bar. But Burke never left; he stayed on, fucking Nova every now and then, staying out of sight when the Sheriff came to warn Moriarty about the frequent bar fights.

After the run-in with the Sheriff, 101 chatted with Burke almost amicably. There was an exchange of caps and a package, and the smooth talker finally left. 101 left not long after, saying a goodbye to everyone in town. Her voice really started to break whenever she said goodbye to the kids and to Gob; especially Gob, the poor slob.

Three days later, the town went up in a burst of light and a mushroom cloud of atomic dust.

101 disappeared after taking her room at the illustrious Tenpenny Tower; Burke, who had initially taken a great interest in her, spent a short while looking for her around the Wasteland in places he knew she'd be - Paradise Falls, Canterbury Commons, The Republic of Dave, all the "popular" places she had stayed at and told stories of - but she wasn't there. Even the broadcast coming from her home vault indicated that she hadn't gone back in there.

Or, maybe she had, and was making all hell break loose. She was spotted briefly around the Capital Wasteland -

But then sightings of 101 stopped.

Either way, she was gone for a few days. The days turned to weeks. Weeks turned to months. Tenpenny grew bored of waiting for her to come back to settle the Ghoul situation and was about to have the Talons handle it when the Vault Dweller came back. She looked like hell; sores all over the left side of her face and down her neck - hell, they were all over her body. But she went and saw the resident sawbones, got healed up. She didn't leave her room for awhile; some of the other residents on the floor could hear her hacking and coughing away, and the Mister Handy could often be heard suggesting she go back down to seek medical treatment.

There was always a gunshot heard when it was suggested, but it always seemed to be just a warning.

The ghoul situation was resolved; somehow, despite being sick as a dog with radiation sickness - the damn doctor had run out of Radaway, and she was too sick to go out and buy any - she convinced the important people to either let the ghouls in or leave.

But about a week later, she vacated.

Two days later, it was discovered that the ghouls' leader, Roy Philips, killed every human inside, save for 101: She had gotten them in there, and he was more than happy to allow her and Mr. Burke to stay on as important guests.

But 101 almost never went back to the luxury suite. Perhaps she was ashamed of what she had allowed to come to pass.

She was spotted some time later in Underworld, buying what was discovered to be Charon's contract from Azhrukal. Charon blew his former employer to bits with a shotgun, and the two went on to assist Reilly's Rangers.

She came back to Rivet City with Charon. Some of the guards told her that if her Ghoul slave tried to cause trouble, she'd be shipped out in a matchbox.

And she just smiled at them. Told them politely that Charon was not her slave. Told them oh-so-sweetly that Charon could leave her side anytime that he wished.

Charon wanted to laugh and call bullshit on the very idea that he could just walk away from the girl who held his contract, but she must have read the expression on the remnants of his face and pulled him aside after the guards buzzed off. "Charon," she said, "you really can walk away at any time. I hold your contract, but not your life. I did that once already." Her expression became sad, but only for a moment; it was replaced by the hard, burning fire that seemed to glow from her eyes. Her father's eyes. "I did that once already, to someone else. I won't let it happen again."

And so she again became the Saint of the Wasteland. Reputation tarnished, oh, yes, it was tarnished to hell. But everything else she did after that was full of good, strong courage.

She went to Little Lamplight with her Ghoul manservant; she disappeared again, and Charon was seen in Underworld. He said that the last he saw of her was in Vault 87, when she was looking for something for the Brotherhood of Steel. Whenever they asked, he threw them a glare and told them it was none of their damn business.

101 resurfaced once more, this time escaping from Raven Rock as it became a smoldering ruin - and she had a Super Mutant with her, a Super Mutant: Fawkes. He was brilliantly intelligent, considered a freak amongst his own kind - but he was ever-so-polite.

When he expressed concern that most humans would panic at the sight of a "Meta Human," she waved the concern away.

And she just smiled at him. Told him that everything would be alright, that as long as they knew that he knew her, he would be safe.

101 went to see Charon; she knew she'd find him at the Ninth Gate. Much to her glee, he declined her invitation to join her. She wasn't happy that she didn't have to keep a Ghoul with her - her joy came more from the fact he acknowledged that with her, he was a free Ghoul, able to leave her side when she had a new companion and able to come back when she wanted him with her.

And the Ghoul, the human, and the Super Mutant smiled at each other. Told each other that things would go great as they sat and drank themselves silly.

The vial of FEV sat in 101's bag, waiting.

It would never see the light of day.

101 ignored the commands of Eden. She passed through the Wasteland, destroying Enclave groups as Fawkes fired away, sneaking past Ghouls with Charon in the tunnels, trading blood with the "vampires" in Meresti Station.

And she just smiled at them all.

A gentle Wasteland Messiah.


	2. Awakening

At least, that was how the story went, how she heard it everywhere she went. Jamie didn't really enjoy listening to tales of her heroics or villainy; as far as she was concerned, there was no good or evil anymore. None of it really mattered to her - until after the purifier was up and running.

In the infirmary in the Citadel, she rolled the FEV canister back and forth between her hands as she watched Sarah and waited for her friend to wake up. Two weeks... they'd been unconscious for two weeks. She sighed and stared down at the canister in her fingers. She had held the fate of the Wasteland in her hands. She could have simply ended it, all of it - finished the human race off for eternity, wiped Earth clean for a new generation of damned souls.

But then she'd thought of Megaton, and the canister had found itself back in the mess in her bag once again.

In the corner, Charon cleared his throat to get her attention. She just grunted in return to let him know she was listening. "I don't think she'll wake up. It's been too long."

"She'll wake up." Her throat felt like it had sand in it as she spoke; side effect of the radiation or result of not being awake for two weeks, she didn't know. "She has to. She's the heart of the Lyon's Pride." Jamie leaned back on the gurney she'd woken up on, pushing her blond hair out of her face. "I'm just a schmuck that got stuck in the middle of it. Should've stayed in the damn vault," she added under her breath, "Now Amata doesn't want anything to do with me, kicked me out when she got Overseer status."

"The fuck are you on about?" Charon pushed off the wall and walked over to her to make sure she wasn't being delusional; one of the doctors had said she might be sick when she woke up.

"The _vault_, Charon," she groaned, putting her head in her hands. "They'll never know why my dad left, they'll never know what _we_ did, all the people who _died_ just so _they_ could stay all nice and _safe_ in their quaint little _paradise_." She stuffed the canister back in her bag, unable to look at it anymore. "No one will know. Nobody in there would care, they're too concerned with staying underground."

"Like ghouls?" She looked up at him, startled out of her self-loathing for a moment. She was, as usual, unable to read his lack of a face; but his tone spoke it all. But the ghouls in Underworld were comfortable and knew they were going to be relatively safe. They could trade with people outside, they had no problems with air or water - they had an ample supply of scrap metal after Raven Rock exploded, plus some of them had gone up to the Megaton ruins for salvage. But they hadn't had a choice; Underworld was the last haven for them.

The vaults were just for the rich cowards, after all.

".. No, not like ghouls. You guys are resourceful fucks." She sighed and looked over at Sarah. ".. the vaults were mostly for the rich people, or so they thought. Some of the stuff I've seen in a few of the opened vaults around here, Charon - I think even you would be creeped out by the shit in there. The Gary vault was too much and I couldn't finish exploring it because there were too many of them, and then there was the place with the gas in the air that made me think I was seeing my dad and Amata and all the people from 101 and-"

"Stop your rambling and get some sleep." His hands roughly gripped her shoulders, making her jump. "I'll sleep if you do." Her blue eyes stared blankly at him before she grumbled to herself and lay back down on the gurney, her back facing him.

"Don't wanna sleep, slept for two whole fucking weeks. I just want some damn food." She was quiet for awhile and he thought she'd drifted off, but as he turned to go sit down, she said, in an uncharacteristically meek voice, ".. some water would be very nice, though." Charon just shook his head and walked over to the door, opening it and catching one of the Knights.

"Hey. She wants water. Go get her some." He started to close the door, but the Knight grabbed the door and pulled it back open, glaring at the ghoul.

"Why don't you get it, squishy?" He began to walk away, but Charon grabbed him by the back of his armor and spun him around, taking his shoulders and staring him in the face.

"Do you know who I work for? Do you know that she nearly died to save your sorry ass and to bring the Wasteland clean water? The least you could do is fill a request and fill a damn glass with some damn water." He shoved the man away and stalked back into the infirmary, slamming the door shut. The Knight stared at the space where the ghoul had been, before timidly walking back up the way he came.

When he came back with the glass of water and knocked on the door, Charon opened the door, took the glass, and slammed it shut without a word. There were some words spoken behind the door, one sounding slightly reprimanding in a very sleepy way and the other terse and annoyed, before it opened again and Charon stuck his head out. "She," he grit his teeth, "says thank you very much." He shut the door much more quietly this time, and the knight quickly went back about his business.

"You're too mean to the guys around here." Jamie had sat up and was taking time sipping the water, savoring the coolness; she couldn't remember the last time she'd had _really _clean water. Probably never. But damn, she wasn't going to chug it right now; later, yes. But for now, she was content and it showed in the dreamy little smile on her lips. "They _do_ mean well. They just don't show it as well as they could." She smiled as he attempted to grimace at her as he strode over to his usual spot; it had taken awhile, but she'd finally started to enjoy the fellow's company. He had more personality than most people gave him credit for; though his loyalty was a bit much after that disaster at the purifier. She'd been taken back when he basically declared full-on war against the Enclave - not something she had expected from someone whose contract was really the only thing that kept them side by side. It seemed that the longer they traveled together, the more he opened up - mostly at her prodding.

There were soft thumps in the distance, making the cabinet and medical implements shake on their table and tray, and Jamie looked at the door with raised eyebrows as the pounding got louder. There was a roar of irritation - "Get OUT of my way!" - before the door slammed open and a familiar orange face shoved itself into the room.

"You're awake! The Wanderer returns to the living." Fawkes grinned at her. Well, tried to, his teeth were already bared. "When word got out that the purifier was working and that you were wounded, I came as fast as I could from the museum." Jamie had to giggle at the thought of Fawkes navigating through the tunnels; had it taken two weeks for him to get here? She wouldn't be surprised.

"Glad to see you too, big guy." The blond bit down on her lip when she noticed some of the Brothers gawking at the Super Mutant from behind.

It was just like old times.

And she just smiled; for the first time since she'd awoken, she thought things would be alright.


End file.
